Ball game



Aug. f8, w39. F. w. L. CARRE BALL GAME Filed Segui. 2S, 1938 'Y IINVENTOR,

FRHJEIIGIMCARRE ORNEY Patented Aug. s, 1939 UNITED STATES BALL GAME Frederick W. L. Carre,

Lachine, Quebec, Canada Application `September' 28, 1938, Serial No. 232,184

8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in ball games of the surface projectile type; and it comprises an inclined game board equipped with a rotary pocket wheel having its periphery indented to provide a Series of numbered pockets for the reception of balls which are projected onto an area of the board located above said Wheel. The wheel is fitted in a recess or wheel well formed in a transverse partition extending across the width 0f the board at some distance from the upper end thereof. The wheel is tted in the wheel well so that, in any position to which the wheel is turned,

some of the Wheel pockets are blocked off by a curved Wall of the well while the remaining pockets are positioned beyond the mouth of the well so that they are accessible to balls rolling down the area of the board located above the wheel.

The balls are projected onto this area from a suitable alleyway located at one side of the lower portion of the board.

A distinctive feature of this invention is that the pocket wheel, while normally free to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the inclined upper surface of the board, is temporarily held against turning movement until a ball projected from the alleyway has been trapped in one of the wheel pockets located beyond the mouth of the wheel Well. This is preferably accomplished by providing the board with a ball receiving depression which is located on the central longitudinal axis of the board at a point close to the central portion of the wheel well wall, said depression being also located directly below the path of travel of the Wheel pockets so that a ball placed in said depression will engage in one of the wheel pockets and serve to hold the wheel `against turning movement. After a ball projected onto the upper portion of the board has been trapped in one of the exposed pockets of the wheel, the restraining ball previously placed in said depression is removed so that the Weight of the second or trapped ball becomes effective to turn the wheel about its axis. This turning of the wheel continues until the trapped ball reaches and drops into the 45 aforesaid depression, which is located in its path of travel. When the trapped' ball drops into the depression it prevents further turning of the Wheel and is left in place until another ball has been projected onto the upper portion of the board and is eventually trapped in one of the Wheel pockets which have been carried beyond the mouth of the wheel well by the aforesaid turning of the wheel. When this occurs the second ball is removed from said depression so that the Wheel is turned by. the weight of the third ball in one direction or the other until the third ball reaches and drops into said depression. As each ball is removed from said depression it is placed in a scoring pocket having a designating number corresponding to the number of the wheel pocket in which the ball was trapped.

In the further description of this invention reference will be had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. l is a plan view of my improved game board.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View taken along the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional View taken along the line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a View of a cue which is employed for propelling balls from the alleyway onto the area of the board located above the pocket wheel.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, 5 designates a game board comprising a bottom wall 6 and an upright marginal wall l, said walls being curved or rounded at the upper end of the board as indicated at la. 'I'he board is supported in the inclined position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 by adjustable supporting and levelling means generally indicated at 8. As here shown such means comprises a pair of disks 9 rotatably secured to the lower edge of a cross bar I9 at opposite ends thereof, the upper edge of said bar being rigidly held to the lower surface of the bottom wall 6 by the fastening screws Illa. The disks 9 are turnable about axes aiforded by the securing screws II and are provided with depending projections I2 which rest on the table or other supporting surface I3. Since the lower edge of bar I0 is parallel with wall 6, the disks 9 lie in a plane inclined with respect to the surface I3. 'I'his construction enables the elevation of the upper end of the board to be varied by turning the disks 9 to shift the supporting projections l2 to different positions about the axes aiforded by the securing screws I I, the maximum elevation being obtained When the disks are turned to the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The disks 9 may also be used as levelling devices for` raising either side of the board to compensate for lateral inclination or unevenness of the supporting surface I3.

A partition member I5 extends across the full Width of the bottom wall 6 in spaced relation to the upper and lower ends of the board. This partition serves to separate the main playing surface I6 (Fig. 1) from a series of numbered scoring pockets I'I, the latter being formed by longitudinal and transversely extending strips respectively indicated at I8 and I9. In the present Cri instance member I5 is shown provided with suitable cut-outs affording additional scoring pockets 2l). Member I5 is also recessed to provide a substantially semi-circular wheel well 22 opening toward the curved ends of the walls 6 and T. A pocket wheel 23 is rotatably mounted on the lower portion of the main playing surface I5 so that the greater portion of the wheel lies within the well 22 in close proximity to the curved well wall 24. The periphery of the wheel 23 is indented to provide a circular series of ball receiving pockets 25 which are differently numbered, as indicated at 26, so that each pocket has a distinctive scoring value. Wheel 23 is mounted so that it is normally 5 free to turn about a central axis perpendicular to the upper surface of wall 3. To this end wheel 23 is provided with a central socket bearing 2'I which is tted on the upper portion of an axle pin 28 having its lower end rigidly secured in an opening 29 provided in the bottom wall 6. Axle pin 28 is located on the central longitudinal axis of the board in line with a depression 3I formed in the upper surface of wall 6 adjacent the medial portion of the curved well wall 24, it being noted that depression 3l is located so that a substantial portion thereof lies within the periphery of wheel 23 and directly below the path of travel of the wheel pockets 25. It will also be noted that partition member I5 is provided with a recess 32 located dircctly opposite the depression 3l. The bottom wall of recess 32 is sloped so that a ball B placed thereon will roll downwardly into the depression 3| and will enter one of the wheel pockets 25 to serve as a detent for temporarily holding the wheel against turning movement. The arrangement of the pockets 25 is such that when wheel 23 is held against turning movement by a ball B engaging in the depression 3| and in one of the wheel pockets all the remaining pockets will be positioned so that they lie at one side or the other of the central longitudinal axis of the board 5. In other words, the pockets 25 are arranged so that each pocket is diametrically opposite a portion of the wheel which forms the partition between two pockets located at the opposite side of the wheel axis. It will be noted, for example, that the pocket 55 in which the ball B is shown engaged is located diametrically opposite a portion of the wheel which forms the partition between the pockets numbered 250 and IIJ.

One side I5@ of partition member I5 is extended toward the lower end of the board and is recessed to provide an alleyway |517, the bottom wall of which merges with the main playing surface i6 at one side of the mouth portion of the well 22.

In using the game board described herein the wheel 23 is first spun by hand and, while it is still spinning, a ball B is dropped into the recess 32 and enters one of the wheel pockets 25 as it rolls downwardly into the depression SI. When this occurs the wheel is brought to rest with certain of the wheel pockets closed off by the well wall 2:?, the remaining pockets (in the present instance pockets Si?, 3M, 8B, 250, 2&0, 'IB and 5ml) being located beyond the mouth of the well 22 so that they may be entered by a second ball B' as it is projected from the alleyway |512 onto the main playing surface IG. The balls are preferably propelled from the alleyway by means of a suitable cue indicated at 34* If the ball B is projected from the alleyway with sufficient force it will travel around the curved end of the board as indicated by dotted lines X until it strikes a bumper 35 from whence it rebounds toward the centre of the surface I6 and eventually finds its way into one of the wheel pockets located beyond the mouth of the wheel well 22. In the present instance the second ball B' is shown as traversing a path which eventually results in said ball entering the pocket bearing the designating number 250. When this occurs the ball B engaged in depression 3| and wheel pocket 50 is removed so that the weight of the ball B engaged in pocket 250 causes the wheel to rotate in a counterclockwise direction until ball B reaches and drops into the depression 3|. Ball B now serves to hold the wheel 23 stationary until it is removed following the trapping of another ball in one of the wheel pockets which are then positioned beyond the mouth of the well 22.

It will thus be seen that each of the balls B which are trapped in the wheel pockets after being projected from the alleyway |5b are eventually advanced to the depression 3| from whence they are removed and placed in a scoring pocket I'I or 20 bearing a number corresponding to the number of the wheel pocket in which the ball is trapped following its projection onto the playing surface I6.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:-

1. A game of the character described comprising an inclined game board, a freely rotatable wheel mounted on the board at a substantial distance from the upper end thereof, said wheel having its periphery indented to provide a series of numbered scoring pockets for the reception of balls projected onto the area of the board lying above the wheel and an alleyway from which the balls are projected onto the said area while the wheel is temporarily held against rotation, said game being characterized in that the wheel, when freed of restraint, is rotated about its axis by the weight of a ball, which is trapped in one of the wheel pockets, as said ball rolls down the upper portion of the board onto which it is projected from said alleyway, such rotation of the wheel serving to change the positions of the wheel pockets each time the wheel is freed for rotation subsequent to the trapping of the ball in one of said pockets,

2. A game board as set forth in claim 1 including a partition member extending across the full width of the board at a substantial distance from the upper end thereof, said partition being recessed to provide a curved wheel well in which said wheel is fitted so that, in any position to which the wheel is rotated, certain pockets thereof are closed off by the wall of the wheel well while other pockets are located beyond the mouth of the well so as to be accessible to balls rolling down the area of the board located above said wheel.

3. A game of the character described comprising an inclined game board provided with a wheel well having its mouth portion facing the upper end of the board but located a substantial distance below said end, a pocket wheel mounted to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the upper surface of the board and having its periphery indented to provide a series of pockets to receive balls projected onto the area of the board located above the wheel well, said wheel being fitted in said well so that, in any position to which the wheel is rotated, certain of the wheel pockets are blocked 01T by the defining wall of the well while the remaining pockets are located beyond the mouth of the well and are accessible to balls rolling down the area of the board located above the said wheel, the upper surface of said board being provided with a ball receiving depression located within the wheel Well adjacent the Wall of said well and immediately below the path of travel of the Wheel pockets.

4. A game board as set forth in claim 3 in which said depression is located on the longitudinal centre line of the board immediately adjacent the central portion of the wall of the wheel Well.

5. A game of the character described comprising an inclined game board provided with a wheel well and an alleyway located at one side of said Well, the latter having its mouth portion facing the upper end of the board but located a substantial distance below said end, a pocket wheel mounted to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the upper surface of the board and having its periphery indented to provide a series of pockets for the reception of balls projected from the alleyway onto the area; of the board located between the Wheel well and the upper end of the board, said wheel being fitted in the wheel well so that, in any position to which the Wheel is rotated, certain of the Wheel pockets will be closed off by the Wall of the wheel well while the remaining pockets will be positioned beyond the mouth of the Well.

6. A game board as set forth in claim 5 having a ball receiving depression formed in the upper surface thereof, said depression being located on the central longitudinal axis of the board immediately adjacent the central portion of the wall of the Wheel well and being directly below the path of travel of the wheel pockets.

'7. A game of the character described comprising an inclined game board, a freely rotatable wheel mounted on the board at a substantial distance from the upper end thereof, said Wheel being rotatable about an axis substantially perpendicular to the plane of inclination of the board and having its periphery indented to provide a series of pockets for the reception of balls projected onto the area of the board lying above the Wheel, the relative arrangement of the board and wheel being such that a ball rolling down the upper portion of the board and entering one of the wheel pockets tends to turn the Wheeliabout its axis.

8. A game as set forth in claim 3 characterized in that the Wheel is adapted to be rotated about its axis by the Weight of a ball, which is trapped in one of the Wheel pockets located beyond the mouth of the Wheel Well, as the said ball rolls down the upper portion of the board.

FREDERICK W. L. CARRE. 

